OPG’s Deep Geologic Repository Project

7.2.2 DGR Not a Concern
Research shows that there is little interest among the general public regarding the DGR Project at the Bruce Nuclear site. OPG had a social media analysis prepared in the fall of 2016. The analysis began with a detailed query in Sysomos MAP – a media analysis platform that provides news, blogs, forums, tweets and many other media results. A year’s worth of data was passed through IBM Watson’s Alchemy – a language analysis platform to identify key themes identified from OPG DGR related media activity and conversations in the past year. In addition to media analysis, the Google Keyword Planning Tool as well as Google Trends was used to understand how Ontarians are seeking information about nuclear waste disposal. In particular, the analysis focused on the keywords being used, and the frequency with which Ontarians are looking for this information.

The analysis showed that Ontarians are not looking for information on nuclear waste disposal in large volumes. This topic is not a popular one, nor is it generating large volumes of curiosity.

Compared to other energy related keywords (wind turbines, solar power) there is very
little curiosity about nuclear waste disposal, or deep geologic repositories.

DGR related searches are at a frequency of virtually zero, and nuclear waste as a topic
shows less interest amongst Canadians than other energy topics.

Looking at how Ontarians search, there is an even greater discrepancy. Energy and
power are more important (or generate more curiosity) than disposal and waste related
searches.

Currently, interest in DGR in Ontario has flat-lined; outside of a spike in May 2015
attributed to the release of the Joint Review Panel report, there has been very little
search frequency for ‘deep geologic repository’.

“Is it my job to feed my neighbour’s child? I don’t think so.” That from Federal Minister of Industry James Moore who is also the Member of Parliament for Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam. He says it’s the responsibility of the provinces to deal with child poverty, and Ottawa has no plans to step in.

Uncivilized societies expel the aged, the infirm and the poor, leaving them to their fate. Civilized societies are supposed to care for all their members, including the poor and the weak.

In the days before Income Tax, Canadians made donations and contributed to charitable organizations; many paid tithes to our churches with the expectation they would look out for the poor. Many more simply fed the unemployed folks who showed up at our doors looking for food.

Over time, as we spread out and diversified, it seemed like a good idea for the government to take on this work. Canadians pay a great deal of money to the Government of Canada in the form of Income Tax, which was supposed to be a temporary War Measure. This money is supposed to pay for infrastructure as well as social programs, because we want a civil society. We pay our taxes with the expectation the government will ensure all Canadians, children and adults, will have the necessities of life.

As Corporate Tax rates have declined, Canadian Income Tax rates have risen. But even with the high proportion of taxes we pay, our governments at all levels are letting the most vulnerable Canadian citizens down.

Food banks, once thought to be a temporary emergency measure, have become a staple. Instead of our government making adequate provisions for the welfare of all Canadians, working Canadians must increase our support of Food Banks — in addition to our high levels of Income Tax — because the government is NOT doing its part.

What does our high rate of Income Tax support if Canadian Children are still going hungry?

The argument that child poverty is exclusively a provincial concern doesn’t wash. If Provincial Governments lack the wherewithal to deal with child poverty, it is because the Federal Government has failed to provide sufficient funding. The reality is that all levels of government are funded by the very same taxpayers.

Canadians are rapidly learning all Federal Government control is centralized in the PMO and Cabinet under our current political system. You enjoy the privilege of being a Cabinet Minister, but that job carries with it a responsibility to your constituency. While your MP constituency may be limited to citizens of the Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam electoral district, your Ministerial constituency encompasses all Canadians. Even me.

Tell you what, Mr. Moore, if the Harper Government stops collecting Income Tax, Canadians will step up and reclaim the task of caring for our poor. Then we can decide for ourselves if our money would be better spent on corporate welfare — like giving banks bail-outs and paying for Tar Sands advertising — or on human welfare — like feeding needy Canadians – most of whom are children.

Until that happens, though, it *is* your job, as a Federal Minister, as a Member of Parliament, as a Canadian PUBLIC SERVANT, to make sure that Canadian children have the necessities of life.

Update

It almost sounds as though he might have read my letter, as he talks about how all levels of government and society need to care for those in need.

But then he goes on to talk about the great work that has been done to tackle poverty and its associated challenges. That’s where he lost me. In November of this year, CBC reported that the province which sent James Moore to Parliament, B.C. has highest child poverty rate in Canada: report

Yes, many hardworking selfless individuals have struggled mightily to battle the poverty that engulfs so many Canadians, most of them children. But it will not improve so long as the Federal Government fails to provide real funding.

First Call BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition noted [in a July, 2013] press release that when you delve deeper into family types the numbers get worse. For lone-parent mothers the poverty rate soared moving from 16.4% to 24.6%, representing 27,000 children. For two-parent families with children the numbers experiencing poverty grew as well by 10,000 to a total of 61,000 children. This is shocking for a one-year time period.

While the BC government is reticent to implement a provincial poverty plan, they did attempt to work with seven cities across BC to establish local poverty strategies. No funding was given to the cities and regions were left to develop their own initiative based on local services. Since this announcement in April 2012, there has been no update from the BC government on the status of these ‘plans’ or poverty in these communities. Looking at the recent numbers, the patchwork anti-poverty programs and focus on jobs is not enough to address poverty.

Clearly, there will be no meaningful improvement until all levels of government — starting at the Federal Level — do more than mouth meaningless platitudes. That a Federal Cabinet Minister could even think such a thing, let alone say it aloud to a reporter demonstrates insensitivity and a shocking disconnect from the real world where the rest of Canada lives.

Mr. Moore has apologized for his personal insensitivity, but has he reversed his position? When Ebenezer Scrooge had his eyes opened, he demonstrated his change in attitude with concrete actions. James Moore offers only hollow words instead of any concrete actions.

I am sorry such a man is a Canadian Cabinet Minister. That’s why I urge every Canadian to sign the petition:

When the Fair Vote chapter presented the petition to the Conservative MP, Stephen Woodworth spent the better part of an hour discussing the issue with them. During that conversation, he made a commitment to look into it further and to present it to Parliament. And so he did.

If you believe the votes of all Canadians should count, you can find out more about meaningful electoral reform from your local Fair Vote Canada chapter or action group. If there isn’t one nearby, you can start your own, or simply print your own petition to present to your own MP.

It is unnecessary and it goes way too far.

Instead of spending $100,000 per year ~ each ~ to incarcerate each petty criminals, wouldn’t it be better to direct some of the money that the government wants to spend on jails to addressing underlying problems like child poverty?

One of the biggest problems is the quantity of very different legislation that is being lumped together in this Omnibus Bill. It’s one thing to collect several books together and repackage them as an “Omnibus” but the idea of bundling several bills together means that they don’t get the attention that they should. Making law in haste is never in the public interest.

You don’t have to take my word for it, do a web search and fast tracking it see what they’re saying online: